Appalachian Training Program in Occupational Health and Safety (July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2015)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Martin CJ
• Description:
  Periodically since 1978, NIOSH has commissioned national surveys of the Occupational Safety and Health (OS&H) workforce. The most recent report was released in October 2011 "to respond to growing concern and debate over the supply and demand for occupational safety and health professionals in the United States" (National Assessment of the Occupational Safety and Health Workforce available at: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/oshworkforce/). One of the main conclusions of this study was that: "The estimated number of OS&H professionals employers expect to hire in 2011 and over the next 5 years is substantially higher than the number to be produced from OS&H training programs." Anticipated retirement figures notwithstanding, this applies to the 4 major OS&H disciplines (safety, industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, and occupational health nursing)." The survey projected a decline in the number of OS&H students which "is troubling given employers' hiring expectations, anticipated retirement figures, the "graying" of some of the disciplines, and the increasing quality of students enrolling in programs." West Virginia has a tragic legacy of occupational and environmental disasters. Historically, these include names such as Hawk's Nest (arguably one of the largest outbreaks of fatal occupational disease in US history) and Willow Island (the highest number of fatalities in a construction-related accident). As more recent West Virginia locations of Sago, Upper Big Branch, and Elk River demonstrate, this legacy continues. It is therefore not surprising that, according to the most recent Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, West Virginia exceeds national averages in all areas. For U.S. workers in 2012, the rate of fatal occupational injuries was 3.2 per 100,000 workers while in West Virginia it was more than two-fold greater at 6.9 per 100,000 workers. Nowhere in the United States is the need for trained occupational safety and health professionals greater than here. The Appalachian Training Program in Occupational Health and Safety at West Virginia University (WVU) therefore serves a critical need to supply qualified occupational health and safety professionals for our state and region. Our specific goal is a practical one: to train professionals who understand hazardous workplaces and who are prepared to serve in a "front-line" capacity to prevent, mitigate, and manage workplace injuries and disease. We emphasize the recruitment and training of graduates who will be committed to remain within the Appalachian region. The program provides Master's level training in Industrial Hygiene (IH), both Master's and Doctoral-level programs in Occupational Safety and Health Engineering (OSHE), and an Occupational Medicine Residency (OMR) for physicians. The OMR has been supported by NIOSH since 1988, the IH program since 1980 and the OSHE program since 2005. All three programs benefit not only from the resources of a large, land-grant university but a close relationship with all three Divisions of NIOSH-Morgantown, the only such facility in the country located on a university campus and adjacent to the HSC. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Education Engineering Health Personnel Occupational Health Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Industrial-hygiene Industrial-hygiene-programs Occupational-health Occupational-health-nursing Occupational-medicine Training
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Final Grant Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-38
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047381
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, T01-OH-008431, 2015 Sep; :1-38
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. Christopher J. Martin, Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV 26506-9190
• Email:
  cmartin@hsc.wvu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  West Virginia University
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8eb86a8edce759a6a7b23dba7ffbf8383fbd51e691defd633bcc6440cefd550d0c08312dfbf9dfa2b80f74151c935dee8990aafff9919a4583851cfd92847558
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/218626/cdc_218626_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 455.40 KB ]